Throughout his long and prolific professional career spanning over five decades, he appeared in 65 films including Camera Buff (1979), Sexmission (1984), A Year of the Quiet Sun (1984), Dekalog: Ten (1989), Three Colours: White (1994), Kiler (1997), Love Stories (1997) and The Big Animal (2000).

[11] Having obtained a degree in Polish literature from the Jagiellonian University in 1970,[2] Stuhr spent the next two years studying acting at the Academy for the Dramatic Arts in Kraków (Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Teatralna often shortened to PWST),[2] where he became a professor.

From the early 1970s, he appeared in Polish theatre and worked in film productions, making his debut with the role of Beelzebub in Adam Mickiewicz's Dziady directed by Konrad Swinarski.

To an international audience, Stuhr may be best known for his minor role as thick-witted hairdresser Jurek in Kieślowski's Three Colors: White, in which he starred alongside Julie Delpy, Janusz Gajos, and Zbigniew Zamachowski.

In spite of the production's success, it was not until 1995 that Stuhr began directing films as well, with List of Adulteresses (Spis cudzołożnic) based on a novel by Jerzy Pilch.

Further movies directed by Stuhr are Big Animal (Duże zwierzę, 2000 – based on a Kieślowski screenplay), and Tomorrow's Weather (Pogoda na jutro, 2003).

For these two, Stuhr employed the Polish alternative rock band Myslovitz who composed the title tracks and also had walk-on roles in the latter.

[17][18][19] The funeral mass took place on 17 July 2024 at the Saints Peter and Paul Church in Kraków and was celebrated by Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś.

His son Maciej (born 1975) is an actor in his own right, who has played alongside his father in Kieślowski's Decalogue X (1988), Pogoda na jutro (2003), and Love Stories (1997).

[24] He was involved in supporting various charity organizations including the Józef Tischner Children's Hospice in Kraków (of which he was the chairman of the board of supervisors) and the Jan Kaczkowski Foundation helping people suffering from cancer.

[30] 11 November 1997, by decision of President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, in recognition of his prominent addition to Polish national culture Jerzy Stuhr was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.